Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1887-03-24
ltiOn: He was prefeOtly willing 10 tnk,

| = a, sAiS hhu uplu Tue electiOE
In the of year.
Mr.. Norny said the committee, with the
AID OF legal talent. had very carefully
gone over the whole ground, and unani.
mously agreed on the first Tuesday il
November. A radical objection to NAV
or the present year was that the dupli
Gates would not be out in time for the
people TO vote. In November they will
oe and the taxes then paid will be good
ior the general election. As to HOLDING
TINS election on general election day be
could not, consistently with his oath tc
support the constitution, vote for such a
proposition he could find no constitu.
tional warrant for IL.
Mr.. Dasey was willing TO leave the
matter entirely to the committee and
would support the committee bill.
Mr.. Smalley would support the COM
mittee bull by way of concession, but he
believed the Legislature bad q perfect
right to hold a special election on any
aay II saw tit. 1t is the subject and not
the day that makes the election special.
Mr. Mccoy would support the com.
mlttee bill ii the committee could con.
vince him that they could get out the
votes next November. II takes from
$lO,O00 to $40, 600 to carry general cleo
tion in this State. If we can get out az
many votes without that money as with
1t, there has been great deal OF money
thrown away In campaigns. There are a
great many now of the assessment l,sts
There will be one third more voters on
the lists in November, 1883, than we can
get now.
MIR. Waples-We can take vote on
every day and finally come to the one the
majority will agree on.
Mr.. Wilson reiterated that the General
Assembly has no authority to take any
other day than the third Tuesday in May.
In regard to the people clamoring for
convention, if you go into Cedar Greek
and meet 10 men who Introduce the SUBJ
lect 1t is my Ret-up. Governor BigRs
throughout the campaign land In his in
augural urged us to stick closely to the
constitution Of the State. Further, 1t is
not the Democratic party asking for this !;
nine times ont Of 10 il is the Republicans.
As to our judges, should like to know If
we don't honor our judges sufficiently to
put them on equal footing with the mem.
bers of the bar.
/ Mr.. Dasey-"0ne of them has changed
his mind since he came on the bench. y
Laughter and cries of "Grubby."l
Mr.. Wilson continued that great many
people don't know anything about the
State constitution. He doubted il one
sixth OF them have any familiarity with
it, and how do they know that they want
a new constitution
Mr.. Medill called for the question, and
Mr.. Wilson's amendment was lost by O
rising vote of is to @: those voting for Il
being Messrs. Wilson, Temple, Lowber,
Ware, Aulligan and Taylor.
| MIR. Jones then moved to further amend
by substituting the Senate (Dr. Martin's)
bill
Mr.. NAPLES was oonstitutionalIy op-
posed to general election day.
Mr.. Jones said that he had consulted
Governor Biggs, Congressman elect PEN
ington, A. T. Robinson and Charles II. B.
Day, Esqs., all of whom assured him that
there was no doubt about the constitu-
tionality of that day.
discussion ensued between Mossrs.
Jones and McCabe as to exactly what Mr..
Robinson had said to each.
Mr. Dhsey, referring to the opinions of
the judges, said that, considering their
life tenure, 1t came very natural to them
to decide as they have done it is human
nature.
Mr.. Mccoy had asked Mfr. Bates about
the legality Of fixing the general election
day. Mr.. Bates had replied that he had
sti-c- the subject verv careful conaidera-
tion, and there was not doubt that il
was legal.
Mr.. Jones' amendment was defeated by
a rising-vote of 12 to 8, the three being
Messrs Jones, Mccoy and Rust.
The committee bill was then adopted
by vote of 10 to and the committee
arose and the House adjourned.
Upon the reassembling of the House in
the afternoon, Mr.. Ware proposed an
amendment to the bill, in the substitu-
tion of preamble reciting: "It is
necessary and just that the people Of
New Castle county shall be represented
in that convention upon the basis of and
in proportion to their population He
supported the amendment in q warm
speech, setting forth the injustice of Will
mipgton having only one member in the
House and holding that now was the
time to stalt to right this great wrong.
New Castle county will be content to enter
no constitutional convention on the same
basis as il enters this House. He wanted
no shamming nor ehirking, but that this
issue be met right here and now.
Several members replied that they
agreed with Mr.. Ware on the justice of
the principle of increased representation
for New CASTLE county, but that this was
matter entirely foreign to the bill. It
simply sets day for the people to say
whether they want convention /; If they
do, the apportioning of delegates to that
convention will be the business of the
next Legislature.
Mr.. Norny regarded the introduction
of this preamble as kind of irebrand
to distract attention from the object of
the real issue of convention. He was
perfectly willing to grant that New
Castle should have more members and, as
soon as this convention business is over,
he proposed to offer an amendment to in
crease her representation.
Mr.. Harrington said this House had
nothing under Heaven to do with the rep
resentetion of the counties in the conven-
ton.
And Mr.. Harrington was right.
The bill then passed by vote Of ID to
S, as given in the detailed report of the
proceedings
The House, in passing convention
bill, has thrown down gauntlet which
the Senate must pick up. Why, must
will be evident ut once when it il con-
sidered that the two bodies represent two
factions. It is a possibility of this rivalry
that the Senate may decide to ''see" the
House bill and 90 It one better by passing
the Martin bill, DR.. Martin said to-day
that he thought of testing the matter by
calling up his bill on Tuesday next. de
also said that the reason he had not done
this before was because he had never been
able to count more than four votes sure
for it-one short of the necessary number.
Should the Senate do this and send the
Martin bill to the House with the implica-
tion that it is Just what the Senate wants
and that 1t would sanction nothing else,
o oount of noses in the House shows that
the return challenge would almost GER
tainly be accepted. The square issue OF
preference between the dayof the general
election and the first Tuesday of next
November did not come up in the House
Yesterday, for the reason that, with the
execution of Messrs. Jones, Mccoy and
hust, the friends of election day felt
bound to stand by the committee Dill.
Had it been the issue Of the Martin
bill or no convention, gereral election
day would almost certainly have received
the support of Messrs. Chandler, Mccoy
and Smalley from New CASTLE, Jones,
Taylor and Harrington from Kent and
Dasey, Rust, Perry, MoCabe and NAPLES
from Sussox-a majority. 1t is not i'm
possible, now that the Senate has been
put on its mettle, that this may come yet.
Mr.. Perry of Sussex stood yesterday lust
where Mr.. Jones did-voting with that
gentleman against the committee bill be-
cause, like him, he is q through and
Il H.. Ian hIIE